Description:

AMPHIBIOUS FORCE ENSIGN DESCRIBES VJ DAY, WITH RARE POSTAL COVER
An A.L.S. written by Ensign Robert E. Pierce aboard the USS Medea in the Pacific Theatre with a rare VJ postal cover from the Third Amphibious Force, 6pp. 8vo., cancelled Sept. 2, 1945. Pierce writes to friends in Hadley, Mass., in part: "...I never dreamed I'd be in Tokyo on THE day. But I was....It was really a terribly thrilling experience. There were perhaps thirty transports and cargo ships stretched out in a long column some nine or ten miles long weaving their way thru a swept channel in the minefield that black the harbor. Overhead wave after wave of B29s and fighter planes passed in formation. On the Missouri itself we could see everyone standing at attention...We had no sooner put the anchor down when we lowered all our boats and within a matter of minutes the entire harbor was swarming with perhaps 500 small boats all dashing toward the beach with troops of occupation...Much of the waterfront section has been utterly destroyed or gutted by allied fire bombs. But the allies seem to have been pretty careful about their targets for what sections of the city we could see destroyed all entirely all were factories or shipyards...I don't know whether or not you know I was at Okinawa. We rate a battle star for it although we don't deserve it. We ran into very little action. We did have the job of laying smoke screens with our small boats...The first night we were out, suicide planes passed overhead and one of them dropped some bombs on an LST anchored about a half mile away. But the bombs missed the LST and hit another smoke boat instead, blowing it to kingdom come..." and more. Very good condition.

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January 30, 2013 11:00 AM EST
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